


Perfect

by somethingnerdythiswaycomes



Series: Twelve Fics of Christmas [4]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Kaiju, Christmas Tree, Established Relationship, Insecurity, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 23:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingnerdythiswaycomes/pseuds/somethingnerdythiswaycomes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck was going to find the perfect Christmas tree, chop it down, tie it to the roof of his and Raleigh's car, and bring it home.  No matter how many Christmas tree farms they had to go to, or how much Raleigh bitched about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Part 4 of Twelve Fics of Christmas--based on 'Chaleigh--getting a tree super hard core'

“Turn left up here,” Raleigh said tiredly, staring at the map in his lap.  Chuck dutifully turned left at the intersection.  Just past the corner was a Christmas tree farm, the fifth they were visiting that day.  “Chuck—”

“I don’t wanna hear it, _Ray_ leigh,” Chuck replied, parking the car on the street outside the farm.  “We said we were going to find a tree, and that’s what we’re doing.”

“I thought you meant picking on up from the guy that sells them on the corner,” Raleigh told him, unbuckling and getting out of the car, then opening the back door for Max to jump out.  “No one actually goes and cuts down their Christmas trees anymore.”

“We do.”  And he took Max’s leash and the saw and walked away through the snow, leaving Raleigh to lock the car and hurry after him.

“Marco’s are just as fresh and big,” Raleigh called to him, still trying to talk him down.  “We can stop there on the way back home.”

Chuck turned around fast enough that Raleigh almost walked into him, and jabbed a finger into his chest.  “We are going to pick out the perfect Christmas tree, cut it down, tie it to the roof of our car, and bring it home.  All right, Raleigh?”

Raleigh knew better than to argue against someone holding a saw.  “All right, Chuck.  But if you change your mind at any time, I am _completely_ okay with it.”

Chuck huffed and whirled around, stomping over to the first stand of trees with Max at his heels.

Raleigh sighed again, and followed.  He knew this tree rampage was almost completely his fault; he’d mentioned off-handedly that he hadn’t had a real Christmas tree since he and Yancy were little.  Chuck had gotten that determined look on his face, the one that meant Raleigh wouldn’t be able to do anything to change his mind from whatever he had decided.  Then he’d asked about what their family had done with the tree.

So Raleigh had told him about going out to the tree farms, cutting down a tree and bringing it home.  Drinking hot apple cider and stringing the lights on it, then hanging the ornaments.  Chuck had nodded along, staying worringly quiet.

He’d also refused to comment on what his family’s Christmas tree tradition was, and Raleigh hadn’t dared to pry, not after what had happened last time.

Then Chuck had wanted to go to a tree farm, and Raleigh hadn’t seen the harm in indulging him.  Then Chuck didn’t find the perfect tree at the first place, and Raleigh didn’t see the harm in going to another place.

They’ve been driving from farm to farm for 5 hours and Raleigh cannot handle going to one more tree farm, no matter what Chuck wants.

But he’d give this place a shot.  They had a lot of trees left, and it looked like they had a good selection.  Maybe he’d be able to convince Chuck that one of these trees was the perfect one.

Chuck was ahead of him, studying a tree with a critical eye.  Raleigh smiled softly, watching as Chuck adjusted the koala hat that Raleigh had made for him a few weeks ago.  Chuck’s hair was sticking from under the hat, and if Chuck wasn’t likely to punch him in the throat for it right now, he would have stolen his hat and ruffled his hair.

Maybe once they found a tree.

“Do you like this one?” Raleigh asked, once he was close enough.  Chuck glanced over at him, and actually consented to Raleigh’s arm around his waist.  For a moment, Raleigh thought Chuck was going to say yes, and that would be the end.

Then Chuck shook his head.  “No, it’s shaped oddly, and there are some empty spots,” he said.  “And it’s not wide enough.”

Raleigh bit back a sigh.  “All right.  Let’s keep looking.”

Chuck slipped out from his hold and started weaving through the trees, glancing at each tree as he walked past.  Max was still sitting next to Raleigh, panting up at him. Raleigh kneeled down in the snow and scrunched Max’s face in his hands.

“Let’s help him find a tree,” Raleigh told Max.  “And then we can get home and relax.”

Max licked his face happily.  Raleigh chuckled and stood up, starting to follow Chuck’s footprints through the tree farm, Max waddling behind him.

Then Max barked and started running away.  Raleigh stared after him, but didn’t try to stop him.  Chuck never got worried when Max went running around, and Max always found his way back without a problem.

Raleigh kept trailing Chuck, but before he found him, Chuck was already stomping back towards him.

“Did you find one?” he called out to him.

“No,” Chuck replied shortly.  “Let’s go on to the next place.”  He tried to go around Raleigh, but Raleigh grabbed his arm.

“Chuck, we can’t just keep going from place to place.”

“Yes, we can,” Chuck retorted.  “And we will, until we find the perfect tree.”

“Why does it have to be the perfect tree?” Raleigh asked, exasperated.  “We’ve seen plenty of trees that are excellent, better than a lot of _fake_ trees are.  We can get that one we saw back there, it was a great tree, it’ll look great in the corner next to the window.”

“No, it has to be perfect!” Chuck said loudly, spinning on him.  “This is our first Christmas together, and I am not going to let it be a disappointment!  When you told me about how you couldn’t have a real tree for so long you looked fucking depressed, so this tree is going to be the most perfect tree either of us has ever seen!”

Raleigh sighs softly and reaches up to cup his cheek.  “Chuck—”

“No!” Chuck hissed, pulling back.  “Don’t pull any of your self-sacrificing bullshit.  You’ll tell me it’s all okay even though it’s _not_ and I won’t know it wasn’t okay until you bring it up the next time we’re fighting!”

Raleigh winced.  In his defense, though, that had only happened one time.

Chuck wasn’t finished.  “So I’m going to make this the _best fucking Christmas_ with the best fucking tree, and you are not going to fight me on this!”

Before Raleigh could respond to that, Chuck turned and ran off through the trees.  It took a moment for Raleigh to process what was happening, because it didn’t really make sense.  Why was he self-sacrificing for not insisting on a perfect tree?  He was more self-sacrificing for going along with this perfect-tree search.

But that wasn’t how Chuck would see it.  Chuck saw a pattern of failed Christmases, and didn’t want to add to it.  When they first started dating, Chuck always thought he was going to fail at something and mess everything up.  He’d moved past it, once they’d gotten more serious, or at least Raleigh thought he had.

The one thing Raleigh had learned was that when Chuck was like this, it never helped to leave him alone.

He hurried after Chuck, following the footsteps in the snow, and then heard Max’s barking.  He started moving faster, a little worried that something had happened to Chuck.  He was still carrying the saw; maybe he’d tripped and hurt himself.

He ducked around a group of trees and saw Chuck sitting in the snow, Max sprawled out next to him, wagging his tail.  Chuck didn’t look up, even when Raleigh stood right next to him or sat down next to him.

Chuck wasn’t going to be the one to start this conversation, then.

“Thank you,” Raleigh said, and it must not have been what Chuck was expecting, because he finally looked up at him.  “Thanks for wanting to make this a perfect Christmas.  I do really appreciate it.”

“You just want me to stop,” Chuck added petulantly.

“Maybe… calm down a little?” Raleigh suggested, risking an arm around Chuck’s shoulders.  Chuck leaned against him, and Raleigh smiled softly.  “You’re right, that some of those Christmases were disappointing.  But it’s not because Yancy and I had a shitty fake tree or couldn’t afford everything to make a Christmas dinner.  It was only a sad Christmas when Yancy or I had to work and we couldn’t spend it together.”

Chuck rested his head on Raleigh’s shoulder.  “It’s the people that make it a good Christmas,” he guessed.

Raleigh kissed the top of his head.  “Now you’re getting it.”

Chuck looked up at him.  “So you don’t care about having a perfect tree, because any tree is fine as long as everyone’s there.”

“As long as _you’re_ there,” Raleigh specified, making Chuck blush.  “But yeah.  That’s about it.”

Chuck nodded.  “All right.  We’re still getting a good tree, though.”

Max barked, and Raleigh looked over at him.  He had moved, and was sitting a few trees down, under the first one Chuck had looked at at this tree farm.

“What about that one?” Raleigh asked, pointing to it.

Chuck smiled.  “That’s the one I liked before.”

“I think Max likes it, too,” Raleigh said with a grin.

“Yeah, I think he does.”  He looked over at Raleigh and kissed him softly.  “Let’s get it.”

“You know, it’s shaped a little oddly, and it’s not wide enough,” Raleigh murmured against his lips.  “And there are some empty spots.”

“You fucker,” Chuck said with a laugh, shoving a handful of snow down the back of Raleigh’s coat.

**Author's Note:**

> sort-of prompted and definitely encouraged by offangirlingandreblogging
> 
> currently unbeta'd. will post the beta'd version once i have it.
> 
> will be cross-posted to tumblr, same name and username.


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